The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Dr. Kingsley Agyemang, has issued an urgent plea to national authorities and citizens to confront what he describes as an unfolding environmental disaster in the constituency — the total degradation of the Birim River.
For over three months, the Ghana Water Company Limited has been unable to operate the Kyebi Water Treatment Plant, leaving thousands of residents without access to clean water. The river’s turbidity level, recorded at 64,000 NTU, renders the water untreatable and unsafe for consumption.
“This is not just a water issue; it is a public health emergency,” Dr. Agyemang lamented. “When water is life, the absence of it is the absence of life itself.”
According to him, illegal mining (galamsey) is the root of the crisis, polluting not only the river but also farms and food sources. The MP warned that communities are now facing a multidimensional threat — contaminated water, collapsing agriculture, and growing health challenges.
He urged the Environmental Protection Agency, the Police, and the Judiciary to intensify their actions against perpetrators, noting that leniency and weak enforcement have emboldened offenders.
Environmental analysts say the situation in Abuakwa South mirrors a national trend, where Ghana’s once-pristine rivers — including the Ankobra, Offin, and Pra — have turned brown with sediment and toxic waste.
Dr. Agyemang’s call, they argue, marks one of the strongest constituency-level demands yet for a coordinated, sustained national crackdown on galamsey.
“The Birim must live again,” he declared. “We cannot trade our survival for the greed of a few.”
